The undiscovered wonder cable

[MikeMusic]

Thanks to Dave at Radlett some many months ago I tried out Tellurium Black and Ultra Black speaker cable.
I expected this to be an easy decision based on others reviews. Ultra Black for sure. I was comparing to a mere Naim or Naim clone.

No

This was in the 'not that modded system' so I wondered if the components were not giving the speaker cable the bandwidth, sound quality, chance to breathe or similar.
Naim 500 to late Isobariks

Since then the system has been upgraded severely so now the Ultra Black can do it's thing.
Martin T brought along his Ultra Black for a short session last week and we compared.
Chord SPM1200E to Isobariks

Mouthes open, knock us both over with a feather.

The crappy (looking) and nasty banana plugged Naim clone was very close to the Ultra Black.
With Martin kindly fettling the banana plugs to fit tighter there was another step up in performance.
There must be very little difference now

Martin being Martin got up close to the cable.
If you look very carefully at the cable you can see
"Exposure Electronics" melted / stamped into the cable.

Thanks to the buyer of the previously active Isobariks I bought I have 3 stereo pairs.
No I'm not selling them. The others will come into use

If you want some go looking for them 2nd hand
I think you will be very impressed.

[jandl100]

I suspect that the moral of this story is that there are lots of good cables out there, and good cable/kit synergies to be found, and some that are a bit hyped up beyond their actual worth/cost.

Most of us have our own favourites and they aren't always the "flavour of the month" or the latest thing to be hyped up by an (over)enthusiastic dealer and his beta testers.

[MartinT]

The Exposure was certainly surprisingly good, Mike, and suits your Isobariks well.

[MartinT]

It's that synergy thing at work again, Jerry. My TQ UBs clobbered my previous many-times-more-expensive Kimber KS-3035s.

[Joe]

Hmm. I have some spare Exposure speaker cable lying about from when I went from bi-wire to single wire. I might dust it off and give it a try (if I can find it!)

[jandl100]

It's that synergy thing at work again, Jerry. My TQ UBs clobbered my previous many-times-more-expensive Kimber KS-3035s.

Ah, well, Kimber ... :whistle: :lol:
From my admittedly limited experience, as they get more expensive they get blander.

--- although I can hear why some folks like it. :)

[MikeMusic]

I suspect that the moral of this story is that there are lots of good cables out there, and good cable/kit synergies to be found, and some that are a bit hyped up beyond their actual worth/cost.

Most of us have our own favourites and they aren't always the "flavour of the month" or the latest thing to be hyped up by an (over)enthusiastic dealer and his beta testers.

Plus do listening tests and don't be mislead by it looking crappy
:)

[MikeMusic]

It's that synergy thing at work again, Jerry. My TQ UBs clobbered my previous many-times-more-expensive Kimber KS-3035s.

I'll bring the Exposure over next visit
Be interesting to hear them

[MartinT]

Sure - once you get some decent plugs on them ;)

[MikeMusic]

Sure - once you get some decent plugs on them ;)

Don't want them sullying your system ?
:)
Quite soon

[The Black Adder]

It's probably down to the quality of the copper used in the cable as well as a good design. High purity copper these days isn't cheap and TQ 'is' very high purity. For example I chatted to Audio Note a few years ago and even they acknowledge that their older output transformers are superior to the later ones simply because of the quality of the copper.

What's this cable look like? Be good to get a cross section.

[MikeMusic]

Imagine Naim NACA4 or 5. Same as that

Somewhere between them for flexibility/stiffness

[Sovereign]

Imagine Naim NACA4 or 5. Same as that

Somewhere between them for flexibility/stiffness

Interesting findings Mike. I just sold 3m of that very same Expo cable.
I have been using TQ Black for a while now, and before I put the Expo cable in the post I thought I should test them out in my system so I could compare, as I had not used these cables for around three years when I had a high end Expo system.
I removed the TQ black and put in the Exposure cable. The bottom end was suddenly really wooly and lacking in depth and the mid and treble just seemed flat.
Interesting how different systems give different results.

[MikeMusic]

Interesting findings Mike. I just sold 3m of that very same Expo cable.
I have been using TQ Black for a while now, and before I put the Expo cable in the post I thought I should test them out in my system so I could compare, as I had not used these cables for around three years when I had a high end Expo system.
I removed the TQ black and put in the Exposure cable. The bottom end was suddenly really wooly and lacking in depth and the mid and treble just seemed flat.
Interesting how different systems give different results.

Different systems or maybe a different batch of cable ........... the dreaded variability in manufacturing or perhaps sourcing
Looks absolutely nothing special which is why I looked to upgrade it !

[MartinT]

I said to Mike at the time that the Exposure rolls off the treble a little and it really suits his Isobariks. The TQ seemed to shine a spotlight in this area and sounded bright. In my system, TQ UB is wonderfully detailed and open, with very tight bass. It's very system dependent.

[MikeMusic]

Stunning performance by the Exposure though to be even thought of in the same think as UBs

[MartinT]

Agreed, for your system they are excellent value.